Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski and West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis spent time at the program in which up to 60 children from low-income families receive free lunch each weekday during the months while school is out.

“Kids love it when they’re here,” said Kim Motuliak, director of operations for Food Finders. “It’s really nice to have their support and their commitment to this program.”

A June 29 J&C article first drew attention to the program after Katy Bunder, executive director of Food Finders, went public regarding resistance from Claystone’s corporate owner, Indianapolis-based Samaritan Cos.

Bunder said the complex refused to allow the program inside, out of the heat, or to provide tables, as it did the previous year. She said Claystone and its Samaritan owners refused to return her calls.

The situation de-escalated when the West Lafayette Parks & Recreation Department donated six picnic tables to the program. But the relationship between Food Finders and Claystone remains tense; on Thursday, Motuliak said it was akin to “an armed truce.”

Dennis said the city was “very honored” to assist the program by donating the tables.

“We live in a prosperous community, and things like this fall under the radar much too frequently,” Dennis said. “This is one of those programs that is a continuing success. It feeds some of those kids that just don’t have the opportunity to have a balanced diet. This might be the only decent meal they get all day.”

The mayors applauded the continued work of the summer program at Claystone.

About 21 percent of Tippecanoe County children — or more than 7,500 kids — are considered food insecure, according to the 2012 Feeding American hunger survey. Statewide, more than 345,000 children are food insecure.

“It’s important they see that people care about them and there are people here that they can talk to,” Roswarski said of the Claystone children. “It’s really important for them and for our community.”

Roswarski said there has been much improvement at Claystone since 2009 — the year Samaritan sank more than $700,000 into the property to overhaul the complex’s exterior and expand security measures. The move was prompted by community concerns about high crime rates at the complex.

But recent flare-ups between Claystone and Food Finders, Roswarski said, show there are problems left to be addressed when it comes to the community’s perception of Claystone.

“The truth is there are still issues that need to be overcome out here as far as crime and police calls, and programs like this can help that in a big way in trying to change that mindset and culture about, ‘What is Claystone?’ ” Roswarski said. “That’s a change of perception.”